Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Is this an adventure?
I cannot help to think that this story is more of a survival tale than an adventure. I feel the distinction is whether or not it is dependent on maintaining homeostasis or not. None of the other stories that we have read revolve around characters risking their lives for any reason other than self accomplishment or thrill seeking. None of the other stories that we have read were initially performed out of necessity, but became an adventure as things turned for the worse. The men aboard Saint Anna were there because whaling and venturing offered them as a source of livelihood. True, they knowingly risked their lives, but something tells me that they were not presented with the same opportunities to avoid such dangerous situations that all of out other protagonists have encountered in their lives. Albanov's tale is truly amazing, but it is not an adventure. He left the ship in the icepack because he knew that he would die if he did not. To me this is not an adventure, but a struggle for survival.
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I agree with you that it isn't an adventure. A lot of the text simply describes taking into account how much food they had, how they were going to get more food, and who was suffering because of lack of food. The hunting parts especially seemed to echo this idea of survival above all. There was no sense of adventure from my perception of the book. Albanov had quite a dismal outlook on most activities the group undertook. Also, on a flat open polar ice cap, how much is there really to explore? Everything looks the same. I think a necessary part of adventure is seeing new things, and they were essentially seeing the same things over and over again, at least that's my take.
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